Monday, August 24, 2015

I am one of those
mentioned by Fred who trembled in the face of possibly hosting Mixology Monday #100. Luckily, I narrowly missed that mandate to act so seriously, thank god, and will instead be hosting next month's
event. But for this occasion, I can't think of a better host or theme
to celebrate Mixology Monday.

MxMo patron-saint Frederic Yarm is
thankfully hosting this 100th such event. The theme he's chosen is
"Cocktail Chronicles", the eminent booze blog of Paul Clarke, which
played a vital role in the revival of craft cocktail culture last
decade and acted as the flagship in the first wave of the
cocktail blogosphere, a later wave of which included yours truly. It
goes without saying that Paul Clarke is one of the resources that
inspired me to join the party.

Fred accurately deems that
the Cocktail Chronicles theme might be distilled(!) to simply "that which
is timeless and elegant through simplicity". Further explanation can be
found here.

This leaves me little choice but to choose what might be my favorite cocktail: the Gimlet.

While past posts of mine on the Gimlet have ended up self-righteous and
bloviating, this post will be earnestly different.

Like
many cocktails, the Gimlet's genesis is in question, though very likely it came from the British Royal Navy. In the 18th and 19th
Centuries, while British sailors and crewman fought off scurvy with
grog using rum from the West Indies and New England, their officers several decks above were likely fighting it
with Gimlets using gin from London. (Fun fact: the symptoms of scurvy
include "spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from the mucous membranes".)

The
Gimlet is simply a mixture of gin and lime juice, but what kind of
lime juice is a controversy. Though certainly the first Gimlets were
made with real lime juice, in 1868 a man named Lauchlan Rose began
producing en masse a bottled lime juice cordial, which kept well at
sea. Many a seaman and landlubber began using Rose's Lime Juice for
their Gimlets and still do today (though Paul Clarke might not be one of them, alas).

Certain minds (and increasingly more
since the craft cocktail revival) reject the use of Rose's cordial in
favor of more natural ingredients like fresh-squeezed lime and
sugar. My purpose today is not to issue you an opinion on the matter,
but rather a request: give Rose's one more chance.

There
aren't many foods I do not like, but for those that I do not, I often try
them again every year or two and I find myself surprised at my changes in
taste. We owe foods a second chance. I encourage this method with food, but also drink.

Do not
think of Rose's as a lime juice simulator, because at that it fails.
Think of it as its own product with its own unique characteristics. One
of my favorite bloggers, Doug Ford of Cold Glass, writes, "In addition to lime juice and sugar, Rose's presents additional flavors that would be right at home in tropical or tiki recipes - pineapple and coconut are the ones I can taste mostly easily. It has a mystery funkiness, a Gimlet analog of the 'hogo' that many consider the main attraction in some Jamaican rums."

If
flavor cannot sway you for another try, look toward tradition; cocktail
tomes indicate that Rose's dominated among Gimlets in the 20th Century. Further, quite a few cocktail authorities opine that the modern Gimlet was most probably created to use Rose's.

And so this is all I ask: drop a bit of money on bottle of Rose's Lime Juice and give it another go. Find the ingredient proportions that intrigue you, if you must, online recipes be damned. You might too find it more timeless than you once thought.Viva la Mixology Monday, and thanks to Paul Clarke for everything.